Kids Dish

Green beans: the most dreaded of vegetables. Well, for kids anyway. I happen to love them. But I didn’t always. That’s because I had two primary experiences with green beans: the yummy, fresh out of the garden crunchy kind or (more often than not) the soggy, over-processed slightly beige-y kind served from a can. I think most of us as children have that flashback of sitting at a table, the giant heap of “green” beans staring us down and thinking, “ugh.”

And if you’ve ever tasted baby food green beans, I’m sure that you understand that we’re not necessarily giving our children the best introduction to these vegetables.

But we really should. Green beans are easy to grow (more on that later), ridiculously simple to prepare, not expensive, low in calories and packed with nutrition. Green beans are an excellent source of vitamin C (20% RDA in one cup), vitamin K (25% RDC in one cup) and manganese. Green beans are also a very good source of vitamin A (over 15% RDA in one cup), dietary fiber, potassium, folate, iron, magnesium, thiamin, riboflavin, copper, calcium, phosphorous, protein, omega-3 fatty acids and niacin. Whew. Good for your bones, your heart and lowering your blood pressure… All of that in one little green bean.

So we know it’s good for the little tykes, but how do we get them to eat them?

1. Grow them yourself! Nothing encourages children to eat like growing something on their own. My kids love food from our garden. And no, I don’t have acres and acres to play with, I live in the city and I have a tiny little backyard. I think it’s important for kids to have a connection with the food that they eat, so we try to grow those vegetables that we can in our little space. There are few vegetables easier to grow than green beans. Those gardening-crazy Aggies have a pretty good synopsis of “how to plant” green beans here.

2. Eat them fresh or fresh-frozen. They taste sooo much better than canned and they retain more of the nutrients. If you’re not into growing your own, buy them from a local produce stand, order from a service like Door to Door or try to pick your own (bookmark this site, BTW, it offers listings of pick your own sites in the US, UK and Canada). It’s fun, it’s usually pretty economical and it allows you to remind your children where their food comes from (here’s a hint: food doesn’t grow in a can).

3. Mix it up! Green beans dumped on a plate are not appealing. Try different combinations with other vegetables, herbs, nuts and more. I’ll have a few recipes this week, so stop on by.